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Family awaits answers in July 4 Lowell river crash

By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com

Updated:
09/05/2017 04:04:43 PM EDT

Juan Carlos Arroyo and his wife of 20 years, Karen Colon, in a family photo. The Lawrence man died after a personal-watercraft crash on the Merrimack River on July Fourth. His family is still waiting for answers. COURTESY PHOTO

LOWELL -- Juan Carlos Arroyo was being his usual safety-conscious self as the father of four upheld a family tradition by riding personal watercraft on the Merrimack River in Lowell on the Fourth of July.

It was three days before the birthday Arroyo shared with his wife of 20 years, Karen Colon. Arroyo drove his wife to shore in the afternoon because he was concerned about other riders, according to his brother-in-law, Miguel Fernandez.

"He was concerned that there were people being reckless out there," Fernandez said.

The Lawrence man dropped his wife off on shore and headed back out for a quick ride up and down the river alone.

He never returned.

Colon went searching for her husband once she began wondering what was taking him so long, and learned from a passer-by that there had been a crash, Fernandez said.

Her husband died at Lowell General Hospital as a result of injuries suffered in the crash. Investigators have yet to determine who else was involved.

Fernandez, and the rest of Arroyo's family, is asking that anyone with information come forward and help police.

"It isn't like they hit an animal or a piece of material. They took a human being," Fernandez said. "They took a father, a husband, somebody's son. His mom is destroyed."

Arroyo leaves behind a devastated wife who will now have to celebrate the birthday they shared three days after the anniversary of his death.

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"That isn't going to go away. She lost her husband three days before their birthday," Fernandez said. "She's still in shock that we don't have an answer about who did this."

Arroyo also leaves behind sons who are 16, 18 and 22, a 24-year-old daughter and one grandson.

"He was a good father. His kids love him and admire him," Fernandez said.

Arroyo was a mechanic who loved to teach his children about cars, motorcycles and personal watercraft.

He would "preach all about safety" whenever the family hit the waters.

"He wouldn't even let you on his Jet Ski if he saw you doing something that wasn't safe," Fernandez said. "He would just say 'you're not using it anymore. I don't care if it was a mistake.' "

Fernandez said the family understands the crash itself may have been accident, but he said that whoever else was involved didn't leave Arroyo to die on accident. That part was a conscious decision, he said.

Fernandez, and several other people who were present at the river on the day of the crash, said the waters and shore were crowded as watercraft riders drew attention for going too fast.

"You can't tell me nobody saw what happened out there," Fernandez said. "Please come forward and lets get this person to pay for what they did."

Since Arroyo's death, another personal watercraft crash on Aug. 13 claimed the life of a 16-year-old Lowell girl, Isabelle Rocha, who was struck by a watercraft driver who was allegedly drunk while on the river in Chelmsford after dark.

That man, Douglas Dematos, 32, of Lowell, is being held on $7,500 cash bail as he awaits trial on charges of operating under the influence of alcohol, negligent operation of a motorboat, operating a Jet Ski at night, operating an unregistered motorboat, operating at night without navigation lights and operating a jet ski too close to another vessel.

And the Lowell City Council now has a pending motion that would bar personal watercraft -- often referred to as Jet Skis even though that is a trademark -- from the portions of the river between the Pawtucket Dam and Rourke Bridge.

The motion was filed in connection with the two fatal crashes and concerns about safety on the river.

The crash that killed Arroyo remains under investigation by Lowell police, the Middlesex District Attorney's Office and Massachusetts Environmental Police.

Both Lowell police and Katie Gronendyke, a spokeswoman for the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs -- which oversees Environmental Police -- said there are no developments to report in the investigation.

Gronendyke said anyone with information on the crash is asked to call Environmental police at 800-632-8075.

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